Working 9 to 5 ...what a way..Yeah !

Evening all,

I kinda promised myself I'd keep the blog up beat this year & I think I've  been fairly true to my word. When things have slipped I didn't post it in a blog but rather waited until things were better & off I went again.

I've been doing this foodie thing for  a long time now & sometimes I just wish I did something completely different, that I didn't have  responsibilities for so many things ... staff, suppliers, rent.

 Dolly was wrong when she sang

 "working nine to five what a way to make a living..., it's all taking & no givin" 

she really hadn't a clue, cos that's what it feels like to be self employed, except the hours are longer. Imagine just waking up & floating into work, doing what has to be done...Monday to Friday, nine to five, switching off my work head & the office lights simultaneously. 

Last week, as I juggled cold calling to prospective clients, with vat returns, chasing outstanding invoices with menu suggestions for a new client, ordering packaging materials etc all the while worrying about some family stuff,, I absently asked my 16 year old son
 "will I ever stop juggling"
 & quick as a flash he replied 

"mom, if ya wanna stop juggling, ya gotta quit the circus"

Now ain't that food for thought !

Shirley 

x

Anyone for (Commercial) Tennis ...?

Evening All,

Keeping all the balls in the air is not easy for anybody, especially us small business folk, at whom the balls often come at at the speed of  one of those automated tennis ball machines I've seen on the telly. 

Hit ! Lob ! Swing ! Miss! Repeat ! Hit ! Lob! Hit !, Hit ! Hit!

I think at last I'm beginning to feel comfortable in this rhythm of my life, it seems like it's all I've ever known.

It's been a funny few weeks. A valued staff member has left to become a taxi driver, we've lost an account that was busy but low margin & another few projects which we were working on have come to an end. With the extra time we've been working on our corporate business, which, whilst it doesn't have the consistency of the daily wholesale deliveries to shops, has double the margin, which means half the work.

Let's face it ...it's a no brainer as to which direction to take.

The other great thing about the corporate market is how the cheques/transfers  roll in. I now spend lots of time in the bank making lodgements, where I now consider the bank tellers my new best friends.With each lodgement that I make we exchange idle banter about our lives. We get to know each others stories & in that moment of exchange we care briefly about each other.

You see, the banks staff & myself have all been on the same journey for the past few years, we've all been fearful, stressed, worried about the future, but at last things feel better, lighter.

So as I end this weeks installment of my life let's raise a glass to the front line staff in banks who had no part in the decisions that were made by their directors that caused the recession, yet who probably got more than their fair share of contempt for a very long time.

Here's to moving up & moving on !

Cheers,

Shirley

I've got a sick note...What will I do with it !

Evening All,

I'm sick.

It doesn't happen very often but after eight days of barking like the sick hound that I am I booked myself in with the doctor for an appointment.She said I was quite bad, but antibiotics wouldn't do

any good.As I spluttered through my appointment, she suggested 15 minutes on a nebuliser might do the trick, so they hooked me up & I did what I was told...big deep breaths, whilst devouring Victoria & David Beckhams glorious life courtesy of Hello magazine. At the end of the session with no improvement the doc suggested steroids to try & move things along..

Steroids..I don't think so, not yet anyway.

She has prescribed an inhaler & a codeine cough bottle, and a few days rest. Oh yes, I am now in possession of my first ever sick note, but what can I do with it. give it to myself or Mr Delicious ?(who incidentally is quite peeved as he too is a bit sick, just not as much as me )

That's the thing about self employment, getting sick is just not an option.

So being the trooper that I am I've been dragging my aching body out of my warm bed, on these wintery mornings, night after night of broken sleep. I've dug deep inside myself, lifted each box of The Delicious Food Co salads & sandwiches, despite the pain it causes in my chest & replenished the shelves of my treasured clients, all the while muffling my asthmatic coughs.and I' have to say I've played a blinder, not a single client has noticed how sick I am ..the sacrifice I am making just being there.

That is until today. When I got to the wonderful Accents Tea & Coffee lounge Daniel  produced a tea with fennel, ginger & honey when I delivered his sandwiches saying "take this ..you've had that cough all week "

To quote the great Spike Milligan

"I told you I was sick "

Shirley x

Oh ..The Irony of Life !.

Evening All,

Today was a lovely day.

Today my eldest daughter turned 18. It seems like only yesterday that I was rolling (on my fat pregnant belly) down a steep sand dune from my friends Crona's summer house in Wexford to the beach, trying to induce a labour which was already 13 days overdue.

When I presented the next morning in Holles St. they suggested I stay & asked if I had brought an overnight bag with me. No, I hadn't, in fact I hadn't even packed one.I remember Mr Delicious double parking on South King St. whilst I nipped into Dunnes Stores to pick up a nightie, baby gros etc.

There is an element of that me that hasn't changed since that day.

I'm still a "seat of her pants" kind of entrepreneur. Despite the highs & lows of our business life, the absence of cash at key moments, things always seem to work out. So today  I had the amazing good fortune, to be able to take my daughter (window) shopping in Tiffany in Brown Thomas

As we purveyed the beautiful jewellery, the impeccable John, suggested a glass of champers for both of us to celebrate her 18th.

So, it was with much joy & amusement & irony that this hippie foodie,whilst wearing her own

treasured tiny Tiffany lock & key, celebrated her daughters first (legal) drink with a glass of champagne in Tiffany @ Brown Thomas, whilst purchasing a beautiful simple Tiffany bracelet.

Today life is good !

Shirley

Casting my net at a networking event

Evening all,

One of the nice things about my new role as catering queen (in waiting) of the corporate sector is that it will require a change of image. I will need a new wardrobe, or at the very least a few "key pieces" for the season,...no more Converses, jeans or comfy Tee's,

I may even have to brush my hair..

..

On Thursday evening as one of Dublin Chamber newest members, I'll be attending an afterworks networking event in Mason Hayes Curran in Barrow St & I will need to look sharp, competent, a girl ready to do business. Already I'm wondering what to wear.

There are so many options to consider,

I could opt for

...the killer networker look.. pencil skirt, crisp white shirt, seriously high shoes...

or

I could pull that back & go casual smart, "I'm a nice girl, you'd be in a safe pair of hands with me"

or

I could just dress like me but smarter?

That's it,sorted, I'll wear a smart pair of jeans/ black legging, a designer Tee, a tailored jacket & my secret weapon, my new 5 inch chunky platform boots & nobody will even realise, as I smile & sparkle that this nice sweet girl from The Delicious Food Co, is in fact a killer networker at work.

Your business card please!

Shirley

Corporate World ....here I come again !

Evening All,

So here I am on a Saturday evening pouring over the Google machine, (as Mr Delicious refers to it) researching images of sandwiches & sandwich platters, wondering not for the first time,

"how did I get here"

In a previous life I was featured in a glossy magazine as a fashion stylist to watch, with page after glorious shiny page of gorgeous images of Irish fashion designers

all chosen & styled by
 MOI

Those who knew me back then still giggle at the irony that the generous expense account lunches, the flash company cars & designer suits have been replaced with a white van & me packing shelves of shops with my wonderful salads & sandwiches. In truth,  the biggest irony of all is that underneath those designer suits lay a dormant hippie never truly destined for the constraints of corporate life.

Two weeks ago we made the decision to merge the two  assets of our business our great food & my sales/people skills. So that is where we will be focussing our attention in the next few months.I will no longer be found stacking shelves with our gorgeous Delicious Food Co produce, although we will still be on sale in shops, I'll be back in my designer gear, targeting the corporate market.

We had a great start to our corporate campaign this week with, two small catering gigs and  a posh do in The Royal Irish Academy, yesterday for over eighty people, where several people asked for my business card & the client was incredibly complimentary. It felt good to be dressed to impress, to put on a delicious spread & to get such immediate positive feedback.

And of course the icing on the cake was when the client pulled out his cheque book, clicked his pen ready to write & uttered those wonderful words,
"Now, how much do I owe so I can settle with you now"

delicious !


Shirley

x

Smoking Guns...Everywhere

Evening all,

Last week was one of those cash flow weeks that was really trying. The good cop/bad cop routine of one particular accounts dept was especially stressful. Good cop promised that I'd have my money on time this month. When it didn't come, day after promised day, he blamed bad cop....the one who makes the payments....

he, being the good guy would call them sort it out.

A week later still no money & I discover bad cop was on holidays all the while, and good cop hadn't authorized payment , so it was never on it's way to me as promised at the beginning of the month, but guess who ended up in trouble  feeling like they'd been shot.

 ME !

I was trying to explain the intricacies of cash flow  to my 13 year old daughter, when she was the one who pulled the trigger....

."Mom, I have no idea what you are talking about...

"I am NOT your  therapist "

Ouch !

Shirley 

Post 2013 Calm.....Breathe in ...breathe out......

Evening all,

I haven't been blogging much of late. I mentioned before I thought I had lost my voice, but it's not just that, to blog every week you need to keep at it, punching it out every week getting into a stride. So bear with me, I'm a bit rusty, a bit sensitive after an innocent comment that I reveal too much about myself & business, from my biggest fan & critic...so I need to get back in my groove.

The themes over the past year have been, cash flow, the van, the brand. I have to be honest a year ago when I told you my stories my head was in a completely different space. I tried to tell that story from the prospective of a small business owner & it worked because it was honest. If you were in that head space you would have understood immediately and many did & told me so.

I am currently on a mission to file every scrap of paper/ receipt/ recipe before the end of this week.I am always writing stuff down on envelopes, notebooks, pieces of paper. Each one a true snippet into my life...the most personal stuff with the most benign

"have a knot in the pit of my stomach..gotta get x sorted... 

.....Ploughman's x 10,Classic Club x 10...Med BLT x 5.....

Platter x 25 Med Council Thurs....noon
breathe in...., breathe out...stay calm..

Peter gym 086 056....Ballyturk ...great reviews... book....

My scribbles, reflect my head perfectly, my anxieties, my stresses,my highs, my control, my focus on the business whilst catching sight of something on a hoarding poster that grabs my attention as I deliver my gorgeous salads & sandwiches in my van around the city.

So my story will still be that of a small business owner, currently wondering if invoice discounting is manna from heaven or the breath of Satan on a business. But hopefully the story will be more upbeat, sales are rocketing, but so are costs, nights are still sleepless but not so anxiously so.I'm trying to get a retail outlet & have my eye in somewhere. But unlike last year, I'm  chilled...if we get it great & if not if just not meant to be

.....not this time anyway.....

Everybody join in

"ce sera, sera, what ever will be will be...

Shirley xx

Life...A Triumph ..(no greater achievement)

Evening All,

It's been an awful week.

 Two friends died this week, Richie who died  suddenly last Sunday & Fiona on Wednesday evening after a long & awful battle with cancer.Two deaths followed by two funerals; Richie's a beautiful eloquent humanist farewell in Glasnevin and Fiona's a wonderful traditional religious mass in Sandymount. The untimely death of friends taken from us way before their time, should make us challenge the way we live our lives. Carpe Diem and all that, or should it?

Today I listened to an RTE radio documentary  about the fabulous Plurabelle Paddlers,which Fiona set up in 2010. A dragon boating club for women who had been affected by breast cancer. The idea being to enhance the well being of women affected by cancer by offering a sporting activity that had proven links to improving the health of women sufferers. At the beginning of the documentary, Fiona spoke about when cancer first struck. She, like most people,  was under the impression that such a diagnosis would be, for some reason, a  defining moment, where one re evaluates their own life. She said quite simply with her signature giggle..".I didn't feel a need to evaluate my life.. I was happy with how my life was going"  

And so it is with mine. I have been   happy of late as how my life is going, but some things need to change. I hadn't seen Richie or his wife Sandra who was my flat mate at college for ages, busy with work, kids, life..I called Sandra immediately I heard the news of Richie's death. She told me how she had already called the house earlier, but my mailbox was full, I didn't even know I had a landline, never mind a mailbox to be filled.

I had been in touch with Fiona almost daily up until last Tuesday, she had been ill for so long, yet her death was shocking in it's finality. But most poignant of all was the eulogies at both funerals.  Richie's male friends spoke of their  friend with such love, Sandra spoke so beautifully of a man who we all know adored her. And then it was Eamonn, Fiona's husbands turn. He spoke so beautifully about how amazing Fiona was & how much she amazed him. He finished his eulogy with the wonderful truth, that whilst much, much too short, Fiona's  life had been a triumph.

So yes, the deaths of my friends may well have challenged my life in a subtle way. 

 We will aim to turn The Delicious Food Co logo pink  for October  and we will see what we can do with that for breast cancer awareness month....friends I have been meaning to get in touch with have been contacted.I ask you dear reader to do likewise, because the ultimate truth is that life is short & precious.

www.plurabellepaddlers.com

Shirley x

All is well that ends well.

Evening All,

Yes we're home. Back from the holiday of a life time in NYC. It was the best holiday of my life. We had such fun, so many laughs & not a cross word between us in the two weeks.I even fulfilled what I promised in my last blog & put work firmly in a box in Dublin & didn't let it near my mind for 12 blissful days. I haven't been even close to doing that before whilst on holidays.

On Monday I drove into work at 6am with only a mild sense of trepidation & when I walked into the kitchen & saw the beams on Mr Delicious & the lads faces I knew that our holiday had been a triumph in both New York & Dublin. They excelled themselves.Even the bad boy label printer played ball & didn't act up once.

The holiday might  not have had quite the happy homecoming, had a drama that unfolded in our absence ended differently.We have a dog, A dog that is loved in a way that moves us to tears in the same way our anecdotes about him bore others to tears.Putting him a kennel was unthinkable, I thought we might even have to share him among the offers that would come in from friends to take him.

 SILENCE!

Eventually I asked my sister if she would take him & bless her soul she said yes. As the holiday approached she said was even looking forward to having him. The countdown to the holidays became less how many days til NY, but how many days until we had to leave Lemmy, confused, distraught & feeling abandoned.

I dropped him off the evening prior to our departure, wiped a tear as I bid him farewell. Two days later he went missing in Marley Park. Can't you just imagine the panic. My poor sister, her husband & three kids spent days pounding the streets, sticking up posters, door to door investigations,praying to St Anthony, promising him ANYTHING if our dog could just be found. My five other siblings joined in the prayer vigils...Jesus, not the dog, not that dog....not Shirley's dog, please , please God return him safely, whilst each one smugly  thought "thank God it's Catherine who lost him & not me".

And then all their prayers were answered.

Lemmy, a two year old frisky collie, had discovered his inner sheepdog found his way to ENNISKERRY. I like to think he might have had fun with sheep he met along the mountainous Wicklow hills, that he had the adventure of a life time, running with wild abandon, chasing rabbits..until he arrived on the doorstep of a man two days later. A man who God bless him reunited him with a distraught Catherine via lostandfoundpets.ie

Today, Catherine recovered from her ordeal, said to me..."I know he must be have been micro chipped but there was just  no way I could call you in the States & ask you....."

Well, ahem, actually, well ....he is now.

Shirley (& Lemmy)

New York State of Mind

Evening All,

Wow, we're here!

All six of us after an epic trip from Dublin to Madrid to Boston to NYC are now on day two of our amazing holiday to NY. The Boston bit was due to JFK closing due to thunder storms. My eldest with much wit announcing that had we come on a famine ship, we'd have got to NYC quicker ! We have swapped house with my cousin; his , a beautiful colonial style four storey house for our tiny mid terraced pad in Dublin 8.

We are in heaven.

I mentioned in my last blog about the fear of leaving our business, of handing it over to our great staff for 10 days. We did as much as we could to prepare everybody, clients & staff and to be honest we can do no more.

If you have been following the blog you know that the business dominates my life, the highs, the lows the agonies & the ecstasies, but not now, not now that I am here .

Myself & Mr Delicious give The Delicious Food Co so much of ourselves 24/7, so this is the time that we discover what The Delicious Food Co gives us. The suppliers we are loyal to, the staff consider family, the clients for whom we go willingly to the ends of the earth.

Last night as I stood on Brooklyn Bridge & watched the 4th July fireworks explode in the NY sky with my daughter Magali who's biggest ambition in life is to come & live in New York, I was moved by the enormity of what was unfolding. Here I was in the most exciting place in the world with the 5 people I love most in the world. An opportunity afforded us by our hard work & a helping hand from my beloved mother. A chance of a lifetime.

I will not check a single work email until my return. I will live in the moment each step of this American dream. This morning we went to an outlet, whilst the kids shopped I had a massage, the elderly Chinese man who massaged me went deliciously way over the allotted time....."why so much stress in your body" he asked.

"Work" I replied, it's tensions still in my mind & my body. But as the day progressed I refused to let my work life near me. It is in a box in Dublin & that is where it is staying for now. And let's face it, if I can't do that in NYC here, for 10 days with the true loves of my life..

what do I really have.

Love

Shirley x

The American Dream....Here we come !

Evening All,

On gloriously sunny days like we've had this week, it's great to be self employed. 

Today I knocked off early & popped into town where at 3 o'clock I was sitting outside The Bailey, with my friend Susan enjoying a nice crisp glass of white wine. I had worked solidly from 6.30 until then, but it still felt like a bold & decadent thing to do. Thankfully Susan had to drive later so we just had a glass & not a bottle.

You see one of the downsides to self employment can be the lack of time off, but in two weeks myself Mr Delicious & our four kids are doing a house swap with my cousin in NYC for 10 days. This will be our first holiday in three years and boy are we excited. Our tiny  house is currently undergoing a declutter of epic proportions. It's one thing to do a house swap with a stranger who you will never meet, but my cousin....well,  I'll be seeing him intermittently for the rest of my life, so he  doesn't need to see my domestic chaos.

Then there is work.

Myself & Mr Delicious  work about 100 hours per week & that has to be replaced. We have a wonderful team and am confident that our business will be in good hands, but  that won't stop me worrying. We are now busier than ever, we have just taken on a big six week contract...and I have yet to break the news to the client that it won't be me at the end of the phone 24/7. I feel guilty & angst ridden, but why work 100 hour week if we can't take ten days with our kids for the opportunity of a life time.

I think we've ticked all the boxes, crossed all the t's & dotted all the i's...but there is still the fear of those unaccounted days when we will be on the other side of the world, trying to forget about The Delicious Food Co. whilst scouring New York for new ideas for ..... The Delicious Food Co.

Does it ever end !

Shirley x

This Little Foodie's on Fire !

Evening All,

Oh yes it's been a funny old year so far.

In January I wrote a blog called "The Midas Touch (again)" about the possibilities that lay ahead of us for 2014. I referenced a time pre recession when everything I touched turned to gold, sale after sale rolling in. We got badly  hit by recession as our gorgeous sandwiches made on wonderful breads got replaced by mass produced wedges, that had travelled miles to get here & lasted forever, our corporate catering decimated by cut backs, our sandwich platter business ...forget it!

I felt in my bones that  those heady days of the Midas touch were about to return (again), I felt ready to conquer the world, spread our deliciousness everywhere. 

Boy was I wrong. 

No sooner had I hit the "publish" button on the blog , then a call came from  Mr Big  to say that his new kitchen was up & running." Hello new kitchen & muse"," bye, bye" Shirley.(although I did manage to save a bit of the business) The following week I got a call to say that one of my food service accounts had lost a large corporate client I supplied to, so that went too.

A change of personnel at a company for whom I did a phenomenal amount of work , meant that a business that had been a joy to service for two years, became angst ridden, messy &  lacking in  professional courtesy to us. So, I took the (brave/mad?) decision to terminate our services to them, and washed that angst right outta my hair.

I am now delighted to tell you that I am again back on a roll. I got eight new clients in May, who are all spending. I have secured a substantial piece of business from a college for a six week period starting in the next two weeks. The client said I'm a pain in the ass, but I know she was pleased as punch for me when she called with the great news.A client I pitched to to do all their catering for the next year has just booked us for today & tomorrow.....(does that mean I've got it....)

You all know that I sometimes find that this food gig, just wears me down, but something very strange happened to me on Sunday night. As I crept into bed where Mr Delicious was already sound asleep, I found myself for the first time in a very long time, deliciously excited about the week ahead and I am delighted to report  that thus far it hasn't disappointed.

Rock on !

Shirley

I'd Do Anything........

Evening all,

Things are very exciting here in the food industry amongst all us little guys aiming to be the next big thing.

 Lidl  & RTE are teaming up to produce a new TV programme "The Taste of Success". They are looking for  wannabe food entrepreneurs, existing local food producers, or anybody with a decent food idea & dream of turning Granny's blue cheese apple strudel into a national taste phenomenon, to apply.

 Now this ain't any old reality TV show...this is The Apprentice with sprinkles. Experts to guide & refine the product...marketing advice...good old fashioned expert mentoring which is the one thing we all want so badly.

Just think what the exposure would do for my business & that's not all.

The prize is a whopping 100k in cash, royalties,  a national listing with Lidl  & marketing campaign

If there is a foodie in Dublin who says they aren't interested I suspect they are lying.

I've never been one to want to draw attention to myself, although I have considered applying for Dragon's Den. I've even perfected my elevated pitch to the Dragons in my head as I've winded my way around town

delivering my salads & sandwiches in my little Ford van  

" Hi my name is Shirley & I'm looking for 100k for 5% of my business "The Delicious Food Co"

& as Gavin, Ramona, & Eamonn challenge my valuation I'd win them over, with confident assured answers...and they would argue that it's a tough market...but they believed in ME, were going to invest in ME..and the bidding war would begin, three Dragons at my mercy..

.Oooh yes!

This competition is a whole new level of exposure...as part of the application form they ask "what is the worst thing that ever happened to you? "( like I'm gonna tell a reality TV show that), but I'll think of something that works for both of us,I need an impressive application form, they suggest a video might be good, but definitely a photo with  the product.

So, I need to loose a few pounds so I look good on camera, I need a decent sob story that won't make my mother cry with the humiliation of it all. I already have the winning product. I've decided not to watch myself back in any of the episodes.

Yes this little foodie is aiming high, considering exposing all ..(again)  for our  wonderful
The Delicious Food Co...I'd do anything..

anything !

Shirley x

Back in the saddle ...Go, go, go....

Evening All,

How are you ?

I'm sorry I haven't been around for a bit. I'm not really sure why I stopped blogging, but for some reason I just couldn't seem to find my voice &  there's no point in blogging without that voice. It's been a strange few months, so much has happened I should have been bursting to tell you, but instead I retreated into my shell & laid low.

Last time I blogged there was potentially something big on the horizon, a Delicious Food Co cafe, but it didn't happen & to be honest there was a part of me that breathed a sign of relief. It would have been fab, but it would also have been a distraction from what needs to be done....& what needs to happen is that I need loads more clients. Every year there has always been a few big clients to keep us busy to capacity. Any more work & Mr Delicious would kill himself with exhaustion, so we carry on busy, busy but not really growing...

But that's not the truth.

We are growing ..by over 20%  year on year, last year...and that was phenomenal...but oh no ..not good enough for me.."ah sure client X spent Y & if we didn't have that ...blah, blah, blah.."

So with the distraction of the cafe out of the way...I'm back in the game, doing what I do best.
I'm selling.
 We have taken on a new chef so we now have more of paid hours than we have work, so Mr Delicious can get back home in time to get dinner on the table.  I'm selling by walking the streets, knocking on doors, introducing myself showing customers what we do...and guess what...I'm having a blast....

Popping into big corporate buildings ...charming my way past security.
."Do you have an appointment, Miss..?."

"Do I need one  Sirrrr ?"

I'm still waking up during the night, to tot up the figures, but lately I've put my head back in  the pillow & told myself  "NO, no sums tonight "  and have managed to fall back into deep slumber.

For various reasons..I lost my momentum  last year (whilst increasing sales by 20%), but strangely I've never felt more motivated or back in the game than I do now. Just like Nicholas Roche, I may have lost a bit of time by falling off my bike, but I'm back in the saddle peddling hard....I won't be wearing the pink jersey this time...but the yellow is there for the taking...and that's where my sights are set....

Ride on !

Shirley
x

What;s a few more days to friends like us!

Evening All,

What a roller coaster the past few weeks have been.

I've sat down a few times to write a blog & let you all know what's going on...yet .somehow the words get as far as my fingertips, but something in my head won't let them hit the keys...all those cliches," if it sounds too good to be true, that's usually because it is". "be careful what you wish for ", keep my fingertips paralysed...."say nothing, not yet" my fingers subliminally obeying my head & not my heart.

It's not just the blog, I'm struggling with...it's Twitter & Facebook too. I think I've just wrapped myself in a big, big blanket of bubble wrap, those thousands of air bubbles protecting me from myself, from possible disappointment...Just a few more days I promise....then I will tell you all.

We've come so far together from my first blogs when I invited you to sit beside me in my little van as I made my way around Dublin, delivering my delicious salads & sandwiches to shops and told you my stories...You have been such good company, I really want to make you proud. I want you to feel part of my success, I want you cheer & yell from the sideline "we knew she could do it." I don't want to let you down.

So just few more days...

I promise.

Shirley x

Karma...please (you owe me!)

         

Untitled

There is a Forbidden Fruit

Of that you may be sure

It grows on many different trees

Something that you will want terribly bad

That always evades you. And you say

If I had that I would be fulfilled.

And you never know all the time

About the invisible Guardian Angel....

 Then some unlucky day all incidents

.....Co-ordinate into a perfect moment

You get what you want whatever it is

And are cast down into Eternal Torment.

I know what I am talking about.



                                         -Patrick Kavanagh

This is one of my favorite poems, by Patrick Kavanagh. The past two weeks have been mental beyond belief. The last blog I wrote was about our crowd funding initiative that we were about to launch with @LinkedFinance. I knew then that I was heading into a scary, scary time. Putting yourself out there ain't easy, even for an open book like me.But then so many other things started to happen as soon as I started the crowd funding, it felt like all the planets were aligning, opportunity, after opportunity, coming our way...could it really all be happening..

I'm writing this with less than three hours to go & we are just over 70% funded. My nerves are in shreds. I refer to the untitlled poem above, as I cannot help but feel what is going on in the poem, is happening to me in reverse . That if my funding comes it it will be the first step of a series of incidents that do indeed "co-ordinate into a perfect moment, that I will get what I want"...

There is such an exciting things happening in the next few weeks for us, I daren't utter it yet...but hey I promise to reveal all in due course...but first I need to hit that target & then maybe, just maybe I'll start to believe....in karma..

89% funded....two hours to go.

Wish me luck.

Shirley

Exposing All....An uncomfortable state of Being

Evening all,

Yesterday Jamie Dornan, the man set to play Christian Grey, announced to anyone who was interested that he objected to the intrusion into his private life by the Paparazzi. He is by his own account, just an actor doing a job...he never signed up for the media attention....poor, poor Jamie. Didn't anybody tell him that if one takes on the role of the most infamous bad boy lover of modern times, then the media attention is part of the package....hello mega bucks, staring role...bye, bye, privacy....

I may sound a touch unsympathetic, but I'm not really Jamie...I understand, I really do. I've been writing my blog as an account of my life as a small food producer for almost a year now, and I too like you have revealed all, albeit it in a somewhat different manner. I've written about the highs of big contracts won & lows of business lost, the agony of unsold produce & the ecstasy of walking into a store to be greeted with empty shelves. I've written about fear, hopes, worry & excitement all of which are part of being an entrepreneur.Yes, I have drawn attention to myself & our business, but I am a "heart on my sleeve" kinda girl, so I suspect that I have revealed no more than I would have done, if we met for a coffee & a chat.

Today we launch our crowd funding loan with Linked Finance.The aim is to get investment from private/public to enable us grow our business. It's a very exciting & scary time cos just like Dragons Den it's an all or nothing situation, if we don't reach the target, we get nada. The spirit of crowd funding appeals to me on every level. The basic premise is that whilst the banks will give a saver 2% (max) on ones deposits, the investor lends the money to fund a small business any amount from 50 euros & have it repaid at a rate suggested by the lender which can be up to 9%. Check out the video if you get a chance, it's brilliant

 http://www.linkedfinance.com

 Of course it would be great to do this on the  QT, no publicity, no fan fare, but that ain't the gig. If I want the funding I've got to shout The Delicious Food Co achievements out loud, I've got to draw attention to our business, show what an attractive proposition we are for investment, let people know how good we are, make them want to be part of our story.

So you see Jamie, you & I are just the same, at this time our appeal is our currency & we both need to work that
I for one am going to dig deep & court the attention, try to enjoy this scary ride & I think you need to think about doing that too.

Here's to you & me Jamie..

Shirley

Desperately seeking ....Attention...

Evening all,

Oh my, what a  funny old  March it's has been.....thus far

Having shared so much of my  demons, my angst, my sleepless nights with you in the past year I have vowed to be a tad more upbeat this year, but I kid thee not it's not easy to be funny all the time. Yesterday was a hell of a day,which started with me, doing a quasi sit in, at Pearse St Garda station, sobbing in my  white delivery coat, pleading for some attention ....(interested...? yeah... bet you are now.....)

Last week Mr Delicious had as accident on the quays which apparently involved a girl playing dodge ball  with the rush hour traffic.She was hurt, but thankfully is okay, and that is what counts, kinda..cos our Mr Delicious was hurt too. I can honestly say that I have never seen him so badly traumatised. He couldn't

speak that evening & to our astonishment, mumbled in a childlike voice..."do ye think you could manage without me tomorrow"

Now that's a first..

The thing about the accident was that because it involved a person, the Gardai take the van  off to be examined, (PSV'ed) which is fair enough. That evening I spoke to the Garda, who showed immense kindness & great concern for Mr Delicious who he said was very shook at the scene. I explained about the van, very small business, need it for work...etc. "I'll see to it straight away, get it on the system, totally understand....blah, blah blah....."

After a week of unanswered calls to Garda A & B, to find out the status of the incarcerated  van, I headed into the station  myself..Apparently the only people who could help were the two amigoes who were off now for 4 days...come back on Friday...

NO I WON'T !.

To cut a long story short the two amigoes hadn't  processed the van. it wasn't even in the system.....

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...well try a foodie with a long client list but without her refrigerated van for a full week,just  cos the boys in blue  didn't do a simple job....

Let's just say that two hours later  that van had been PSV'ed & back in the hands of Mr Delicious..

Hell hath indeed.......

X

Them's the Breaks ..She gets the Manor, I get the gate lodge

Evening all,

One of the things about breaking up is tying up the loose ends and today I had a meeting with Mr Big's new food interest, the lady charged with complete control of his new in store kitchen ....& his margins....in short the lady who has replaced me.  Despite her now being  his number one gal, we got on rather well. In fact, she's willing to concede slightly & give me a little bit of my shelf space back It's okay, I always knew me & Mr Big were  never going to be permanent, so it's not a bad deal  If this was a marriage split I'd  say, she gets to move into the manor , whilst I can  live in the gate lodge.

I might also be able help her out in other ways, there's work she doesn't want to do, 60kg of salads per week for the new deli bar, I might get that too  if I play my cards right..samples going in on Thursday...that's how helpful I'm willing to be...

Me & Mr Big may be technically over, he may have a new muse, but  it just might take a little longer to wash this little foodie right out of his hair. 

I'll keep ya posted 

Shirley
x

Thems's the Breaks....We're Over !

Evening All,

One of the things about blogging is keeping the momentum going. I've tried to write a blog every week since I started & have been reasonably successful. When I started I had lofty notions about becoming the next   EL James....hoping that the appetite for erotic fiction of 2012 might be replaced with an appetite for a different kind of fiction...that of my life as a small food producer, my beating heart, legging it around Dublin City filling shelves with my Delicious Food Co produce...

I urged my readers to forget Anastasia....that this was my time....I was the heroine

Somewhere along the way I think I got lost...

Feb has been an interesting month, with some endings of previous blogs playing out. Mr Big of the "Them's the Breaks" blogs from last April has finally, almost one year later got his kitchen up & running and is going to start making all his own salads & sandwiches. We've got on very well me & Mr Big.....he's a nice guy...but  we're over....we'll stay pals & if I'm ever in a bind, I'll call him & true to form he'll either help out or tell me to get lost.....he's very direct my Mr Big, an all or nothing kinda Kerry guy.

This creates a hole in the work load which I'm working to fill.I told you before I can't cook, that's Mr Delicious forte, but I can sell, and every business needs a sales person. So with a new found energy I'm applying the key principles of the sales function....hit the numbers & the business will follow.....believe & it will come...

"Hi my name is Shirley & I'm calling you from The Delicious Food Co...I'm just wondering if.........."

 sell, sell, sell.....

Shirley 

Fifty Shades of Wanting....

Evening all,

I've been tinkering away with this blog for almost a year now & I have to say it's been a lot of fun. Blogs by their very nature are totally narcissistic, that's why they can become a tad (over) self indulgent. I've just had a quick look at the stats over the last year & I find it up lifting & amusing that one of my top three blogs continues to be "Fifty Shades of Delicious", one of my very first blogs.

So much for all my angst & stress...when it comes to it,  it's clear what you are all really interested in & we ain't talking about my food, my demons or cash flow issues..but rather my sleepless nights.

Actually I've been sleeping really well for the past week. I still wake up midway through as I have done for many years now, tot up the balance sheet in my head, but for at least a week now, I've fallen straight back into the deepest delicious slumber, which is full of the most bizarre dreams of fantasy & reality.

I had a very early start this morning as there was a "meet the buyers" event at Dublin Airport. Isn't that the Holy Grail of retail.....21 million passengers, most of them hungry....the shear scale of it...wow.

We started off with a networking session, which was followed by a number of presentations. At the end we were invited to ask questions, starting by introducing ourselves, our business & telling what we do.

Now,  could there possibly be a quicker way to let the assembled crowd know that there was in their midst, a food producer called Shirley from The Delicious Food Co who makes fantastic preservative free sandwiches & salads. I hate speaking to groups but I manned up, muddled through my question to a key buyer. Her answer involved a reference to a sandwich tender they are currently involved in ...this prompted a second question from me as to whether the tender is closed...("yes" was the answer).at which point the key presenter, said good humorously, "clearly we have someone in the sandwich business here today.."..

BINGO 

Later as we walked through a tour of the food outlets, I chatted to the buyer who is from a major food service company.When we arrived back  I guided her straight to my table of product samples...mini salad pots, granola pots, mini hummus pots...I swear to God they looked fab. The buyer was impressed, so impressed that she asked me if it is possible to get a full range of samples & product list to her for a key meeting at her office on Thursday morning....and hey whilst I'm at it....could I include samples of my sandwiches...

..that sandwich tender is still there for the taking ! 

Shirley
x

Getting off The Hamsters Wheel.

Evening All,

Ask anybody who has a small business & you will find certain reoccurring themes like...ground hog day, spinning around on hamsters wheel...endlessness...

Yep...I have subscribed to them all...

When the ultimate boss of a client, who I already supply,  approached me recently & suggested I fill his fridges with my fabulous sandwiches & salads (sale or return),"take the pain & it will happen"  he said, genuinely & loaded with his experience.... I could feel my eyes filing with tears..".I've know the pain I said, I've been feeling it since I started"...& I knew in an instance from his eyes that he knew .. he too understood the pain.

That's the thing about being an entrepreneur....it's full of highs & lows. The biggest thing for us is that it's personal..my product, my work, my care, my love.....& that my dear reader is the thing we need to change...cos do you know what....to the customer ....it's only a bleeding sandwich or salad....

I'm working on that at the moment.I went out with my great friend Crona who is quite a lady, earlier this week.She started her own training company last year Hibernian Training (www.hiberberiantrainingcourses.ie). Crona worked for many years for James Farrell at PDL, they were not only colleagues, but  friends, James was the ultimate pro when it came to the sales function, there is so much to learn from James....

Crona told me  a story of how James having pitched through the public tender process for an existing contract, a contract he had held for many years & which he had put in a phenomenal amount of work for the tender. It went to a competitor...the training manager called James, "come in & I'll talk you through it ...go through your scores" ..."Nah..you're grand" James said....Crona was aghast....but hey...James' logic was spot on..."Listen it's a three year contract..it's gone...I know what we do, I know we're good, on wards & upwards...

N.E.X.T....

Us business owners need to develop a tougher skin..I'm doing that, kinda...We've gotta recognize the real opportunities and move quickly on when we know the potential sale is not going to become an order.

I'm excited about the future... Jan was a good month for sales & we were well up on last year, Business is good....really the only way is up !

Shirley x

What's to say....

Evening all,

Some say "life's a bitch"...and do you know what...sometimes it's true.

Today, life has truly  been a bitch.....today I picked up two new clients... there are some exciting things happening on the business front....but still it's been an awful day.

This time four weeks ago which was St Stephens Day I was sitting with Mr Delicious, our very close friends Cliff & Susan & her brother Declan & his super gorgeous wife Christine (who were over from London with their 2  kids)here in front of a big fire, sipping wine, eating humous talking about our plans for 2014.

I met Declan in Susan's at her child's First Communion  about a year ago. He was great fun, I liked him immediately, probably because he had a lot of Susan's traits..(.ya really gotta meet Susan to know what those traits are, what a special person she is... she's a fun, fun. fun gal...) but   he also had this cynical sense of humour that appealed to me....especially when the red wine ran out...

Last year Declan got one of those rare but manageable cancers & 4 weeks ago as we chatted in front of the big fire, Declan,  dressed like The Fonz in his Daz white T shirt & jeans, we talked about his cancer. For Declan it had been a tough year but he was on a trial drug & felt really good...he looked great albeit thinner than when I first met him.

Things have not been great for Declan since Christmas, with one health challenge after another. Yesterday Susan went to London to be with him & Christine. Today surrounded by his family he died. What's to say...a funny vibrant man with a beautiful wife, four great kids,three bereft sisters...simply not here anymore..gone...

Susan text me today before he died saying it was "unbearable" Does a word  exist that can top that after death.

This blog is an account of my life as a food producer....but way above being a food producer is being a friend, having friends....and I have been blessed with so many, close, close friends...Susan & Cliff are two of those I've been blessed to have in my life Today the dramas of my food producing life are nothing compared to my beautiful friends pain.

There really is nothing more to say.

RIP

Shirley

The Midas Touch (again)

Evening All,

Oh yes, it's been a great start to 2014 even if I say so myself. At the end of last year I decided to dive flawlessly & splendidly into 2014 & I am proud to confirm that I've done that.....not bad for a girl who wouldn't jump off the side of a boat without a life jacket.....I know it's early days, but "start as you mean to go on" & all those cliches spring to mind.

In 2007 before the crash I remember a period when everything I touched turned to gold. A new supplier who picked up one of our brochures from our kitchen passed it on to the next client on his route. This led to a chain of events that was astonishing. That clients' sandwich provider had just that day gone out of business, they called me, I went to see them, leaving with a hefty daily order in my pocket. I found out who the ex sandwich suppliers' other clients were & I called all of them. One of those clients was Ernst & Young who we then started supplying…. this

led to us becoming an approved supplier for a major food service provider, which led to accounts in PWC, RTE, Google,Citibank, Deloitte, ESB....& more..

A random knock of the back door of the kitchen of The Law Society as I was passing one day, led to us providing firstly sandwiches for the in house cafe & later all the catering for their regulations department.

The defunct sandwich provider had made sandwiches for Avoca  in Suffolk St so I called them had a meeting bringing along a selection of our gorgeous sandwiches & before I got back to my car, Avoca had placed their first order with us and so we made sandwiches for the Avoca brand for a few years…..

When the crash came, our top quality expensive sandwiches were a casualty in the sweeping cost cuts that affected everybody….

I remember getting a call from Davy Stockbrokers in 2008 cancelling all orders for the rest of the year. I was indignant ….a stockbroking company cutting out the pastries & sandwiches to save a few bob…it seemed ridiculous…..

The reality was that Davy knew the economic tsunami that was coming our way…they were buttoning down the hatches, doing whatever they needed to survive…

We too, like Davy survived the onslaught…sure…we lost accounts, but we won some new ones…we reinvented ourselves…. we fought back….we even had some great years...

But there is something about this year..The beginning of this year feels for the first time that things have really settled since that economic tsunami struck….I feel we are ready to conquer the world again the way we did in 2007. There is a confidence in the food industry...so we are going to attack this year with The Delicious Food Co brand…already I have secured a new client.. an existing client wants an additional 1,200 granola & yoghurt pots for next week….three occasional clients have booked in nice pieces of business for next week as well….& that’s only week one…all extra business on top of the other daily deliveries...

I went to a presentation last year & the message was simple….”believe & it will happen, ask & you will be given” The thing is you have to believe, really believe, believe it in a way that is part of you…I don’t know where that comes from but having dived off the diving board without my life jacket, into the clear waters of 2014 so splendidly & flawlessly…

I believe.

Shirley 

Navigating the course of 2014.

Happy New Year Everyone,

In case you missed it & as a reminder to myself...a blog I wrote in December finished with the following:

"My brother called me yesterday, he reads endless "motivational" books and has a deeply philosophical view on life, as well as an amazing house, a big job  a beautiful wife & four fab kids.... (ya see they do work....those books)

He suggested that "we"......meaning me of course, get into a different head space for next year, to celebrate the highs & focus on the positives, of which there have been so many for Mr Delicious & me.

So that's what I'm going to do...I'm going to stand on the diving board, side by side with Tom Daley, remove the demons from inside my head....and dive head first,  flawlessly, splendidly into 2014 ...

FREE.....

I'm repeating this as it's something I want to take into 2014 with me, it's how I want to start my year and it's how I want to be in 2014. On paper we achieved great things at The Delicious Food Co in 2013 yet those achievements just never translated into the same sense of success in my own head. Maybe my expectations were too high... That's the thing about success....it ain't always on the spreadsheets...it's  in your head....

So yesterday I got straight back to work.....we finished the year with a whopping 25% increase in sales from the previous year..yes & I do know that "turnover is vanity, profit is king" but the final accounts  aren't done yet....still.... we have a great base going into 2014....I'm no longer the delivery guy....the white (straight) jacket is gone....(see blog Men in White Coats) I'm the boss...I'm holding the reins of this frisky pony that is The Delicious Food Co & we are going to navigate the course of 2014 ...clearing each hurdle with real panache & style...winning

you just watch this space....

Shirley x